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It really makes a difference when foreigners come to visit village in Bangladesh. But villagers will certainly be overwhelmed if they find foreign nationals speaking in Bangla. And it happened at a village about 60 km off the capital city on Thursday, a day after the Eid-ul-Azha.
   The villagers of Narandi under Manohardi upazila in Narsingdi were amazed to see the Ambassador of China to Bangladesh, Chai Xi, quoting from a famous Bangla song- Ekbar Jete Dena Amar Chhotto Sonar Gaon (Give me a chance to go to my small village).
   ‘I have come to that village today and I am enjoying the charm. I am very happy. I am enthralled and overwhelmed,’ Chai Xi expressed his emotion in flawless Bangla at a programme at Narandi where he laid the foundation stone of Narandi-China Friendship Complex.
   A friend of Bangladesh and its people, Chai Xi, has long been in Dhaka and learnt Bangla from the Dhaka University.
   The village of Narandi wore a different look and the ceremony made the Eid celebration more interesting for the villagers. They were very happy to get the ambassador and his wife among them.
   National Press Club President and Editor of The News Today Reazuddin Ahmed, who hails from Narandi, organised the foundation laying ceremony and Eid reunion.
   Sardar Sakhawat Hossain Bakul MP, former secretary Suhel Ahmed, National Press Club secretary Shaukat Mahmud, senior journalist Abdur Rahim, First Secretary of Chinese Embassy Tian Yaoming, Bureau Chief of Xinhua in Dhaka, some Chinese journalists and journalists from national, local press and TV channels, Narsingdi additional deputy commissioner and Manohardi UNO were present on the occasion.
   The villagers welcomed the distinguished guests, who braved the blanket of fog, by singing and dancing. They were served with traditional winter cakes in the breakfast.
   Villagers arranged a cultural function in honour of the Chinese envoy on Narandi school premises. Lathi Khela, Ring Khela, dress as you like, Baul song, dance and music enthralled the guests.
   The ambassador enjoyed the function and appreciated Bangladeshi culture.
   Chai Xi said Bangladesh and China are friends since long. The anniversary of 30 years of friendship was observed last year in both the countries and leaders of the two countries talked ways to further develop the relations.
   He further said China is ready to support development efforts of Bangladesh. The envoy said Narandi-China Friendship complex will be built under Chinese architectural design. Materials and instruments of the complex will be brought from China.
   Reazuddin thanked the ambassador of China as he has taken such an initiative to build Narandi-China Friendship Complex at Narandi village. Sakhawat also expressed satisfaction over the close ties between the two countries.
   The complex will have, among other, a library, computer training centre, music and vocational training facilities.
   The construction and other relevant works of the complex financed by the Chinese government are expected to be completed within a few months.

Primary textbooks, published by National Curriculum and Textbook Board for current academic season, are being sold at the open markets in Sylhet at high prices.
   Book distribution programme began in the district on January 5. Few schools of sadar and Golapganj upazilas have already received textbooks while schools of other upazilas are yet to get the books.
   But the textbooks for free distribution myster- iously have already reached at the hands of the local businessmen.
   According to a market survey, a set of textbooks of class-I is being sold at Tk 50 while each set of books of class-II to V between Tk 200 and Tk 250.
   The government allocated about 13 lakh textbooks for free distribution in Sylhet but local people apprehended that the students might face book crisis this year due to this black marketing.

Nearly two hundred small traders evicted from Rajshahi court premises in the wake of bomb explosions across the country are now in trouble with their family members having lost their means of livelihood.
   Sources said lawyers and litigants who come to the court from outside the districts are also facing difficulty due to the absence of service provided by stamp vendors, computer shops and typists.
   The court-users could take meals and get typed their documents quickly, but they are all being deprived of the facilities following the eviction.
   Stamp vendors, computer-shop owners and typists were running their businesses here and there in the court area with the permission from local administration. But their troubles started with a verbal eviction order from the administration on Dec 1 last year.
   Sources said the administration assured the traders of solving their problems, but the assurance was yet to come true.
   The people evicted from their trades said that most of them were trained by the youth-training institutions in income-generating vocations.
   There had not been problem when the court had been on a month-long winter vacation in December. But with the reopening of court from the first of January, all the parties concerned are facing the problem.
   Affected traders demanded of the authorities to take immediate steps for resuming their business in court premises
   M Habibur Rahman, president of the Samity of stamp vendors and small traders, described the plight of his colleagues and demanded remedial measures. He said, “A few of the stamp vendors continued their work in the open following the eviction.”
   Court users demanded construction of sheds in or near the court premises for the rehabilitation and convenience of these people.

Though drug addiction has assumed a menacing proportion and youths are the main victims of this scourge in Gopalganj, there is no drug rehabilitation centre anywhere in the district for their treatment and counselling.
   Sheikh Delwar Hossain, executive director, Southern Gano Unnayan Sangstha, a local NGO, said nearly 8,000 people, mostly belonging to 15-22 years age group, have been grappling with the problem of drug addiction across the district. The number of drug addicts was increasing by at least 10 per cent every year, according to him.
   The well-off guardians of the addicted youths take them to Dhaka, Khulna and other cities for treatment.
   The addicts of the poor families suffer most the consequences of addiction as they have no means to go outside their district to seek treatment.
   Some of the guardians of drug addicted youths said counselling was most important for the addicts after their release from clinics. These young men needed counselling frequently so that they did not slip back to the old habit of taking drugs. Several months after their release from the drug rehabilitation centres a good number of youths again started taking drugs simply because of the lack of counselling, they noted.
   The representatives of ‘Ashru’, a drug rehabilitation centre in the Khulna city, occasionally come to the Gopalganj town for the counselling of the patients who earlier received treatment from their centre.

A teenage boy surrendered to the police on Saturday after killing his stepmother at village Dewanpur under Mohadevpur upazila in Naogaon.
   The police and locals said Moksed Ali Dewan of the village along with his first wife went to visit his father-in-law’s house on Friday on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha leaving his son of his first wife Russell, 15, and second wife Mina Begum, 30, in the house.
   But at midnight Russell strangled his stepmother following a previous enmity. Later his uncle Aftabuddin informed the police about the incident.
   Finding no other way out Russell went to the Mohadevpur police station and confessing his guilt surrendered to the police.
   A case was filed with the police in this connection.

A man allegedly strangled his wife for dowry at village Rajapur under Lohagara upazila in Narail on Saturday.
   Local people said Zahidur Rahman married Sima Begum, 30, seven years back and since then he used to torture his wife for dowry.
   After their marriage, Sima’s father gave him Tk 60,000 in cash and gold ornaments worth Tk 25,000 to save his daughter from the torture. But the greedy husband started torturing Sima for more money, said the locals.
   On the fateful day, Zahidur beat and strangled Sima, mother of a child, to death after having quarrel over dowry and also poured poison into her mouth to prove that she had committed suicide.
   A case was filed with the police. But the police could not arrest Zahidur.

At least 15 people including women were injured in a clash over ownership of land Saturday morning at village Louhadaha under Manikganj sadar.
   The police said the feud over the ownership of the land of a mosque has been continuing since long between the mosque authorities and one Salimuddin, a local who claimed the ownership of the land.
   The clash took place when the authorities of the Louhadaha Madrassah started fencing the land Saturday morning and Salimuddin and his men prevented them.
   In the clash, at least 15 people were injured.
   Later RAB members brought the situation under control. They also took four seriously injured including a woman to Manikganj Sadar Hospital.